I see you've ordered... but I use the Mighty Bender. You can't got wrong with H. Higley stuff! The first time I saw the double 'L' bends you are talking about is on the Top Flite SE5 designed by D. Platt. BTW, I'm in Taylorsville, KY!

I'm in Frankfort. I think Gene Bond posted about the double L bends in the Scratchbuilt Foamies thread.

I looked at several of these and decided K&S might be the best choice but at the last minute decided on Micromark's wire bender for three reasons:[LIST=1][*]Primarily bending 1/8" or less most frequently[*]The capture screw to hold wire in place when bending[*]Price

I took a crude picture of the bender in a vice at work. The handle is upside down in the picture but you can see how it works. The screw is not tightened down either. The post the wire nestles against is groove to help retain the wire in position while bending.

There is a couple of other pics of my first wire bending attempt with landing gear. Luckily I got it right first time. Hope this helps someone.

Regards,

Larry

P.S. K&S will likely be my next choice for larger diameter wire. It looks good to me as well but about $10 more. Not having used one before I wanted to keep price to a minimum but for other reasons especially like the Micromark.

I got my wife one of the little table saws from them a few years ago. She does miniature doll house stuff and almost uses it daily. Great little tool albeit a tad expensive. I use it some also. It does a great job stripping balsa with the rip fence. I got some spare blades for it but amazingly it is still using the first blade. Pretty amazing considering how much it has been used.

rcav8r2, somehow I'm not surprised they are the same. I probably could have had my LHS order it in with their normal deliveries and saved the freight. Thanks for letting us know that.

Rick, your right about the saw expense. A friend loaned me his for a couple of years and then had the audacity to ask for it back. By that time I was so solidly hooked I had to buy my own. Before buying thought about all the airplane stuff I could have bought with the same money but I use this saw on every build...it really shines on stick builds like vintage rc planes. I found it speeds my build, far more accurate and really saves me dollars in balsa cost.

2. Small diameter music wire e.g. "Z" Bends:
a). Buy a pair of "Z" Bend Pliers, one squeeze and done.
b). Make an L bend with pliers and use a plastic or metal "clip" as pictured.
. - DIY Z Bends
c). Refer illustration attached. - Another method is to hold end in a vise and tap down with a hammer,
then square the z with a screwdriver tip tapped down - both can cause a ridge which eventually enlarges horn hole = slop.

Rick, your right about the saw expense. A friend loaned me his for a couple of years and then had the audacity to ask for it back. By that time I was so solidly hooked I had to buy my own. Before buying thought about all the airplane stuff I could have bought with the same money but I use this saw on every build...it really shines on stick builds like vintage rc planes. I found it speeds my build, far more accurate and really saves me dollars in balsa cost. Let us know how you like your bender.
Regards,
Larry

Well, I used the Higley benders making a tail wheel wire from .078 wire. First impression is that they work ok for single bends but only so, so for multiple bends in different geometric planes. After the first bend it is difficult to make the second bend 90° to the first accurately as the the first bend tends to want to move out of position as pressure is put on the wire. You have to hold the wire with pliers inside the vice jaw which is awkward. I think someone posted a bender like the K & S with a screw to secure the wire. I will have to go back in the thread and look.

2. Small diameter music wire e.g. "Z" Bends:
a). Buy a pair of "Z" Bend Pliers, one squeeze and done.
b). Make an L bend with pliers and use a plastic or metal "clip" as pictured.
. - DIY Z Bends
c). Refer illustration attached. - Another method is to hold end in a vise and tap down with a hammer,
then square the z with a screwdriver tip tapped down - both can cause a ridge which eventually enlarges horn hole = slop.

Thanks for the info Alan. I do have some "Z" bend pliers and they do work well. I also use the EZ clips with the L bends as shown in your picture. I also cut a small piece of fuel tubing and slide it over the clip end to make sure the clip doesn't pop off.

Any advice on making the coil (double circle) bends on landing gear wire. I have both the mini and maxi benders. It looks like I need to put in a 1/8" post to do a tight bend radius like this with 1/8" or 5/32" wire. I have been practicing with aluminum wire, will probably have to anneal steel wire for this tight bending? This is for a trailing link retract where the gear leg has a 45 degree aft bend about half way between the retract unit and the wheel axle.